The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-04-20
ONE OF RAYMoND's TRAITS.
dis Friends Talking OF His Practical
Jokes.
FYom The Neao YORK Times.


From the Neao York Times
The death of John T. Raymond has beer
one of the chief topics Of conversation II
theatrical circles this week AT the Gilsey,
the Hoffman, the Union Square, the Nor
ton, and all other places where the profes-
sion are wont to congregate. there has been
constantly repeated over the lemOnadeS and
the punches, in the little knots around each
table, the name of one of the best known OF
American comedians.
Every actor has had a spray Of green 70
tender to his dead brother, but it was a
spray from the garden of memory, Of iris
rather than cypress, from a tree that had
been tended by friendship and watered by
merry sympathy through long years Of pro
fessiOnal life. Every one of them has had
some story to tell and has told it, and the
honest sadness over his departure and that
faint far-away guest of olninOus hearing
that came dimly into view with the words:
"Another one of US gone, was back
ground for the stories that made merTiment
something of a relief.
Raymond and | dressed for five years
in the same room" said Harry Edwards.
at was IN the California Theatre stock
company, in San Francisco. Joking was
not entirely an amusement with John. IT
was a passion. Such trihes as finding your
shoes nailed to the floor when in hurry.
your boots filed with vermiliOn, or your
wig grotesuuelv Queered were ALWAYS to be
expected. But | never will forget and he
began to laugh at the memory, zone
matinee, when we were playing with poor
Ned Adams in a piece called The Clairvoy
ant
mccullough was the villain Of the piece.
In the last act there was a scene III which
his victims appeared before him. Ray
mond Julia COrcoran, somebody else and
viz oil in
line on q platform. A second before we
came into view Raymond came out of his
q &Fe&sing- turned our wigs hind side
8 bef0re and tipped them over on one side,
<and then took his place. He had turned
h1S rag inside out, painted his nose fiery
Ered put on bell-crowned hat instead of a
<cockade, and stood there with his most
SQgEjous expression, pointing both hands in
01<Rn of one at Mccullough. You never
: <6w such row of guys in your life. The
44=.s- elace first roared then hissed and then
5nf Indignant and we left the act as it was
tGr6 rang down
Mccullough was absolutely afraid of
him bat times. Raymond could do the most
*xro<rsq things and never crack smile:
k[1ok ike mute at a funeral all the time
t4)ue night in Virginia ne was playing
SFotyfior to McCullough's Ingomar. In the
<[1T3king scene where Ingomar directs the
<barians TO seize Polydor Raymond came
nnd in front of the stage and, instead of
fcpping in front of Mccullough and clasp
- lis hands, he dropped, crawled between
1egs, crawled back crawled through
b, dived back, and then circled around
= with the most piteous look. Well, Nc
Icugh began 10 laugh, the audience be-
@4to laugh and the curtain went down
I7ss# universal roar.
cCullOugh got back at him for this,
Mever. They were playing together in
q Mosite CristO,' at the California. Raymond
- Cederrousse, the tavernkeeper, and
&Eh though was the Able Before McCul-
11fh came on Raymond, instead of reciting
Ifnes, guyed him numerically.
II <Ahr said he, behold the Able: the
y 6ty Able; the august Able: the real i'm
16<1ed article in Abbes, and don't you for
~ ID, and so on, and so on, winding up
2 the cue. Mccullough came on, they
fheir scene, and the Able, in say
IT. Farewell, lifted his finger sternly and
III have to say 10 you, John T. Cader-
41Ue. is this: Try and be decent if you can.
sStop your tomfoolery and pay little atten-
ton to your domestic duties. If you will
cease staying out of nights, bad company
and above all that pernicious habit OF
matching, there may be hope of you yet.
Good morning."
Il never think of Raymond without
also thinking of Matilda Heron" said
Mckee Ranksn. Raymond and Sothern
years ago were running the st. Johns
Theatre, in New Brunswick. They had en-
gagged Matilda Heron. and as usual, they
painted her name in large letters on a trans
parency which they had rugged up on an
old lumber wagon. Inside of it they put
some musicians, and for several hours each
day il was driven all over town with the
musicians footing like factory whistles.
Well, Matilda arrived. John met her al
= station and, as they reached the hotel
old wagon came up the street
Just in time, said John, rubbing his
is and waving to the driver, who pulled
the sidewalk
What is it, johnny said she
Get right in, Matilda. Its all right
ooh, my God Johnny, l cannot 20 in
said the poor woman
N@Dh, why, nonsense, don't say that said
TIE manager. Everybody does it, The
people expect it They wan to see you.
Won't have a soul in the house if you don't
''5he heaved sigh, prepared TO mount,
while the musicians, staring in consterna
ton made a place for her ON the board seat
But her courage failed her. She clasped
her hands and almost fell on her knees, say
ing; -
i viii do anything for you all my life
Raymond knitted his brow and shook
his head.
@"Pon honorr he said finally.
oh, swear it,
"He relented. Bnt all her life he held the
promise over her.n
did yop ever hear Raymond's answer tc
the English ladyF' asked James J. Roche.
''Noh
"Well, he was over there" said Roche
playing Asa Trenchard in The American
Cousin Meeting lady one day she said
1T is funny Mr.. Raymond, but you car
never hope to play the part as Mr.. Buxton
did
"'No,' drawled Raymond Il hope not
You see madam, Buxton was like Corn
wallis when he went over to interview the
Americans-he didn't know anything about
en-.
Like every other practical joker, Ray
mond was not seldom made the victim of O
Rose similar to that he was so fond of in
fiicting. When he first played Col Sellers
the most trying part of the performance
was eating the raw turnips, for he hated
vegetables and never ate them except on
compulsion. The company found this out
and doctored his turnips in all sorts OF
ways. He substituted apples in the act, and
one night all he had to eat was a raw onion
covered with an apple skin, N his unspeak-
able indignation. The talk ran on reprisals
and Billy Florence said:
"Speaking of John and Ned Sothern,
kat. fhaxB fall fgrrath "a In